The Vampire Diaries Season 5: Why Enzo Needs to Survive

The end of a Vampire Diaries season means one thing: painful character deaths. With the Season 5 finale looming ever closer and executive producer Julie Plec’s words that not every character will make it out alive, we’re worried about our favorite characters, especially the newer ones. Enzo (Michael Malarkey) was only introduced in Season 5, Episode 9 (“The Cell”), but he has since become a compelling presence on the vampire drama. Here is why Enzo needs to survive Season 5.

This show needs new characters. It’s not that we don’t love the old characters, but a show heading into its sixth season needs to keep the new blood coming, and Enzo has been a delightful addition to this cast of characters. Though much of our continued enjoyment of TVD comes from seeing these characters we have grown up with change and evolve, that doesn’t mean we don’t need new characters to explore. Unfortunately, TVD tends to kill new characters off. Seriously, new characters have an extremely short life expectancy on this show, and that needs to change — at least for the more interesting ones.

Enzo has been stuck inside a cell for decades. We know that Enzo has done some unforgivable things since he made it out of the Augustine Society cells, but we still feel bad for the vamp who spent more than 60 years as a vampire lab rat. Is it so wrong that we want to give him a chance to become the cool, sympathetic vampire we know he could become. After all, he saved Damon all of those years ago. He was strong and clever and optimistic. We want to see that vampire again, and we think given enough time to work through his considerable issues, Enzo could find his soul again.

Denzo. Who doesn’t love Denzo? Sure, we’d like it if they found a hobby besides murdering college billionaires, but that doesn’t mean these two aren’t hilarious together. We’re still not sure why Enzo forgave Damon, but these two have a strangely strong bond and we kind of love it. Besides, since Alaric died, Damon hasn’t really had a friend to call his own, and he totally needs one. Knocking back shots at the Mystic Grill while Matt is paid to listen to his problems isn’t really cutting it anymore.

He can be the apathetic villain for awhile. It seems that TVD feels like it needs a morally-grey protagonist to keep things interesting. Recently, that has been Damon (as encouraged by Enzo), which hasn’t really been working for us. If Enzo sticks around and becomes a main character in his own right, then he can take over apathetic villain duties for awhile and Damon can go back to his path of redemption. Then, eventually, someone can take over apathetic villain duties from Enzo, so he can find that soul we mentioned in point no. 2.

So we can hear him sing. Have you ever heard Michael Malarkey perform one of his original melodies? It’s beautiful, and we need to see it happen on TVD. There aren’t nearly enough musical numbers on this show and, with Enzo around, maybe we can finally get that very special musical episode we’re secretly gunning for! What? Buffy did it.

Do you want Enzo to survive Season 5? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

Kayti Burt is a contributing writer for Wetpaint Entertainment with a penchant for all things pop culture. Follow her on Twitter and Google+!